U.S. and Afghan troops killed about 24 Taliban in a battle in the Afghan south, the U.S. military said on Thursday, while government forces said they recaptured a road near Kabul. U.S. and Afghan troops fought a seven-hour battle with the Taliban in the Sangin district of Helmand province on Wednesday night and U.S. aircraft were called in for support, the American military said in a statement."Approximately 24 Taliban were killed and four vehicles destroyed," it said. Two members of the U.S-led coalition force were wounded.Violence has been increasing in Afghanistan in recent weeks after a winter lull, but a threatened Taliban spring offensive has yet to materialize.In the meantime the U.S.-led force and troops from a separate NATO force have been mounting sweeps in Sangin and other parts of Helmand.The new commander of the NATO force on Thursday likened the expected spring confrontation to a match between two boxers.... http://news.yahoo.com

At least nine people have been killed in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, during renewed clashes between Ethiopian troops and insurgents. "Six consecutive missiles hit... There are many wounded," said Hassan Ibrahim, as he drove a minibus full of the wounded to a hospital. The insurgents are believed to be a mixture of clan fighters and Islamists. Ethiopia helped government forces oust an Islamist group from Mogadishu last December but violence has continued. Earlier, Somali Deputy Prime Minister Hussein Aideed formed an alliance opposed to Ethiopia's presence in Somalia. Mr Aideed announced the move in the Eritrean capital and called for a probe into Ethiopia troops whom he accuses of genocide since arriving in December. Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed and former parliament speaker Sharif Sheikh Aden were also in Asmara at the launch....http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6572453.stm

His job in jeopardy, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Thursday his decision to fire eight federal prosecutors was “justified and should stand.” In remarks prepared for the Senate Judiciary Committee, Gonzales also said that “reasonable people might disagree” with the decision. He said the process by which the eight were dismissed was “nowhere near as rigorous or structured as it should have been.” Gonzales began his turn as a witness after Sen. Patrick Leahy, the committee’s chairman, delivered a tongue-lashing in the opening moments of the widely anticipated hearing. “Today the Department of Justice is experiencing a crisis of leadership perhaps unrivaled during its 137-year history,” said the Vermont Democrat. “There’s a growing scandal swirling around the dismissal” of prosecutors, he added. ...http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18195314/

In the ashes of the Branch Davidian site where 81 people died in a 1993 blaze after an armed standoff with federal agents, a new religious community is slowly taking shape. Charles Pace, leader of The Branch, The Lord of Righteousness sect of the Branch Davidians, hopes to open a museum for tourists in addition to building a tabernacle and wellness center as part of his new church. But the few remaining Branch Davidians who once lived at the compound oppose Pace and his plans, saying the museum won't be an accurate representation of the events of April 19, 1993, because he was not there and despised their leader David Koresh. "He'll portray us as deceived and put us down and say David Koresh was the devil," said Clive Doyle, who survived the fire and lived at the site until leaving last year because of conflicts with Pace. On February 28, 1993, authorities tried to arrest Koresh for stockpiling guns and explosives. ...http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/19/branch.davidians.ap/index.html?eref=rss_us

The Cook County Board agreed to pay $950,000 to settle a claim that an inmate's requests for medical attention were ignored before she died in jail. The county settled the lawsuit on Wednesday without admitting liability in the 2002 death of Marie O'Donnell-Smith at Cook County Jail, court records showed. O'Donnell-Smith, 38, who had been arrested on a shoplifting charge, collapsed at the jail. According to court documents, she was a heroin addict suffering withdrawal symptoms. The lawsuit alleged that a nurse at the jail's health service told O'Donnell-Smith that she would have to crawl to the dispensary. It said two nurses then pulled and pinched her arms and legs while she was on the floor. She was found dead in her cell hours later. ...http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3056602

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has arrived in Iraq on a previously unannounced visit. Gates flew to Baghdad from Israel, where he told reporters he wanted to see "faster progress" towards political reconciliation in Iraq. His visit came a day after bombings in Baghdad killed nearly 200 people. At least 11 people died in another blast in the capital on Thursday. The violence was the worst since a US-led security push began in February. Shortly after arriving, Mr Gates went by helicopter to the insurgent stronghold of Falluja, where he met Gen David Petraeus, the commander of US forces in Iraq, and Gen Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The visit is Mr Gates' third to Iraq since he took office in December. As he set off for Baghdad, the defence secretary said the Iraqi leadership must be aware that the US' military commitment to the country was not "open-ended". Some 28,000 extra US troops were ordered to Iraq as part of President Bush's security offensive in Baghdad...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6571351.stm